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Monday, April 18, 2011

Honoring the Gods at Beltane

The Gods of Beltane. Covering areas from fertility and family to new spring growth and love, they are the Gods and Goddesses of rebirth and renewal. Goddesses are in their virgin or young mother aspect, and Gods are lovers or young fathers. The Horned God, of course, as well as Pan, Dionysus and his Roman aspect Bacchus, Kokopelli, and Bes, are all honored at Beltane. Goddesses honored are Hera, Flora, Artemis and Diana, and Aphrodite. Of course these are not complete lists, they are just meant to give example.

My own Rendition of Kokopelli.

One my my favorite Gods to honor at this time is Kokopelli, the flute player. Kokopelli is traditionally a fertility god among the Hopi, and is viewed differently in different traditions. Some legends state that in his humped back he carries seeds, and other legends say he carries unborn babies which he hands out to women. Either way, it is obvious that he is a god of fertility and celebration. We honor him by distributing seed to the birds, and a great family activity at Beltane would be to build (or just buy and paint) a bird feeder! Kokopelli has always been associated with many different animals, birds only being one kind of them. Of course, they are the easiest animals for us to interact with in this modern age.

As for Goddesses, I always honor Hera and Freya. It may seem like a strange combination, but it works for me. Freya is (among other things of course) a Goddess of Abundance and Fertility. Hera, depicted often holding a pomegranate, is an obvious Goddess of fertility. Did you know that for many years, English kings ate pomegranates before having "relations"? Pomegranates have for centuries been used as an aid to fertility and libido.

Which Gods and Goddesses do you honor at Beltane? How do you honor them?

2 comments:

I have always tended toward worship the Goddess and the God and calling each by many names, usually Cetlic since that's my heritage. But I love his idea of finding the Gods and Goddesses from the world over who fit with us, for whatever reason. I'm reading a book of Scottish myths for children with my daughters right now. I may have to start looking out for who appeals to us.